Von Glitschka
Illustrative designer
A veteran “illustrative designer” and educator, Glitschka publicly ridiculed Adobe’s generative vector feature as “Text to Clip-Art” and warned that prompt-based shortcuts rob young designers of the foundational craft they need.
In his words
The Text to Vector generative feature should really be titled Text to Clip-Art.
It’s a disservice if you let them use a prompt-based methodology. They need to learn and nurture their foundational creative skills.
Biography
Von Glitschka is an American “illustrative designer” (a term he coined), founder of Glitschka Studios in Oregon, a prolific author, and a popular design educator whose vector work has served major consumer brands.
“Text to Clip-Art”
When Adobe unveiled a generative “Text to Vector” tool in Illustrator at Adobe MAX in 2023, Glitschka published a sharp rebuke. The feature, he wrote, should really be called “Text to Clip-Art,” and he predicted it would flood the field with “a lot more crappy vector art.” Because its output is stitched together from Adobe Stock imagery originally made by human artists, he argued, the “derivative result” is “less refined and subpar, lacking any redeemable traits.”
His deeper worry was pedagogical. He urged educators to steer students away from prompt-based shortcuts: “It’s a disservice if you let them use a prompt-based methodology. They need to learn and nurture their foundational creative skills.” Real craft, he insisted, comes from learning to build vectors from scratch.
Where they stand in the war
Who backs them up
Sources & further reading
Canonical record: https://battlelines.ai/topic/von-glitschka